A 2300 Year Old Trick For Infinite Musical Ideas 🥁

Howdy! It's time we have a chat about Euclidean Rhythms - this is probably one of the most fun and simple ways to spice up your next track!
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▼▼▼TIMESTAMPZ:▼▼▼
0:00 Hooktheory!
0:28 Howdy
0:55 Why I Made This Video
1:43 A Free Plugin You Can Use
2:15 Euclidean Rhythms Are Born
2:50 What Are They?
4:09 Euclidean Rhythms In Music
4:48 Creating Basic Polyrhythms
6:42 Euclidean Rhythms In Context
7:56 Euclidean Drum Grooves
10:26 Some More Advanced Ideas
12:20 Neat Features Of Torso T-1
15:16 One Last Jam
17:35 Closing Thoughts
Stay classy!
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#musicproduction #tutorial #beats #musictheory

[@VenusTheory]

Go get groovy this week - just remember to watch out for Godfried "Steal Yo Girl" Toussaint. 🎼 Hooktheory! ► hooktheory.com/affiliate/209.html 🥁 Torso T-1: bit.ly/3Hk7nwE 🐝 FREE Hornet Euclidean Generator: bit.ly/3NFuy71

[@EasyHeat]

I gotta offer some genuine thanks and appreciation for your content, and how much it's inspiringly helped me to sonically branch out of my typical norms. Especially as a once former punk/hardcore acoustic drummer embarrassingly stuck within a 4/4 time sig?! 😅 I find tutorials like these really quite fascinating, and your straight forward way of explaining actually registers within my limited remaining brain cells of retainment.Ha! I've been tinkering with a few software step sequencers lately, but am pondering possibly picking up something on the cheap side of the horizon. Like possibly a Korg SQ-1 maybe? BTW that first synth poly-rhythm had just the slightest taste of "Men without Hats-Safety Dance" to my middle-aged 80's kid ears.🙃 I dig it. A lot. Also, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I was trying to figure out who's pitch, dialect, and cadence your distinctly calming voice reminds me of, and then the 90's MTV New journalist Kurt Loder popped in my head, and now I can't "unhear" it.🙃 lol! Honestly though, I've increasingly become big fan of your channel as of late man, and once being a child of the 1980's who was raised by a young punk rock/post new wave mom? The retro post-punk "synth-wave" era had a massive affect on me. Years before I eventually taught myself bass, drums, guitar bashing out teenage angst riddled hardcore tunes? I was this dorky kid who was secretly dreaming of owning a Keytar! LMAO! Because THAT was the coolest right?! Bwahaha! (facepalm) Unfortunately, my early peaked interest in synthesis, as cringe as it seems in hindsight? Always seemed to be lurking just out of reach behind an out of more than meager budget analog paywall. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Legendary synths like the ARP Odyssey, Korg MS-10, Moog Prodigy, and the potentially dark and aggressive soundscapes within were basically unobtainable "god tier" units of fantasizing desire. Well, up until just discovering the expansive digital advancements of MIDI and convincing emulation VSTs that is. It's as strikingly profound to me now, as the debut of something like the Line6 DL4 once was decades ago. Because much like that delay unit? As imperfect as it was? Never before had the masses been given an opportunity to wield similar technology previously associated with musical royalty, and at times? It's almost impossible for me to not occasionally blow my own mind all over again appreciatively. Anyway, the point I'm hopelessly stumbling all over here is that, To and old dog like myself attempting to learning some new tricks, and also who is typically flying blind as I often do? Your channel has genuinely become invaluably informative during the sometimes steep learning curve of that. Thank you. Did I fail to mention that I can also sometimes habitually post enthusiastically uber-wordy oversharing comments?! LMAO! Wow! Ha! Autism Spectrum Disorder be like that sometimes. "Awkward" has unwittingly become a common repeating mantra of mine unfortunately. No regrets. LMAO! Take care man. Cheers! 🖖

[@EasyHeat]

^^why am I like this?!^^😅

[@deastman2]

I’ve barely touched my T-1 since it arrived, because life happens. Thanks for the demo and for inspiring me to pull it out again and really dig in!

[@webstercat]

As a drummer these are great ways to come up with new ideas. Laying down Q notes gives a reference. Funky stuff

[@bloom_dnb]

"lets bring it home with one quick demo"...subsequently blows my mind

[@ingolf7411]

There's more math in music than one is thinking about. In 1979 (just beginning my MSc in Computer Science) there was a fascinating book that was wide spread among us students ... Douglas Hofstadter´s "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid". The relationship of the music of Bach and Gödel´s (very) theoretical math was obvious and I guess just few understood this relationship. I think I will have to take the book from the bookshelf again 😉 ... it´s worth reading 👍.

[@RussellTeapot]

Ah yes, fantastic book!

[@markkens9]

Hope you were able to keep up with Hofstadter's features in Scientific American that were before the book.

[@Lu_Woods]

MU

[@reinhardwolf2855]

Me and my minimoog and Guitar Freaks coming along with this book 😜🤣

[@macronencer]

Maths grad here (1986, Southampton, England). LOTS of us had that book on our shelves. I once tried to do a "radio play" from the "Little Harmonic Labyrinth" script on my Porta One. It was... a learning experience :-\

[@keenanblack3958]

Great concepts here Cameron, and your demonstration sounds SO GOOD! This kind of thing reminds one of the excitement and fun of using sequencers and synths in the first place.

[@Dubious_Dubs]

I never thought i'd get hooked on a morning show.

[@jimjonjimjonjon]

The book you see on the left: Music Habits - The Mental Game of Electronic Music Production: Finish Songs Fast, Beat Procrastination and Find Your Creative Flow by Jason Timothy Its a really good book if your are stuck or want to improve or even if you dont know how to even start.

[@modeswitching]

Is there a book called Stop Playing With Your Synths and Write a Goddamned Track Already bc I need it

[@jimjonjimjonjon]

@@modeswitching Just start recording you play/jam sessions and when you like something, save it and try working on it. Its one of the hardest parts to acutally start "making music" but this will transform to something like a workflow and the rest will be progress. Secret Tip: show those jam to a good friend. Criticism is an awesome tool if constructive and its also fun to maybe ad some ideas from other human. Even they probably dont know the musical theoretical terms, they can communicate what they hear and feel and give feedback. Some sort of creative iteration.

[@compucorder64]

@@modeswitching that book covers that base, and others. It's a good one.

[@deletedchannelname7426]

@@modeswitching Save what you made when you were playing with your synths. You'll thank yourself when you write your tracks

[@saintmoz]

Can’t wait to see more videos on hardware sequencers, the T1 is very appealing, but I’m interested to see what other workflows and tools are out there.

[@VenusTheory]

More coming soon!

[@brandtreppond2167]

Your channel is fantastic! I'm learning concepts to apply my creativity however I like, and I love it. Thank you

[@sweyn.techno]

Thank you so much for this amazing content!

[@theperry00]

I spied the Book "Music Habits" in the corner of the frame. So I checked into it and ordered a copy. It looks quite appropriate. You should mention it directly. Love your work. Very inspiring, Thanks!

[@theperry00]

@Astrocat 3D the full title of the book= Music Habits - The Mental Game of Electronic Music Production: Finish Songs Fast, Beat Procrastination and Find Your Creative Flow

[@theperry00]

oh yeah the full book title "Music Habits - The Mental Game of Electronic Music Production: Finish Songs Fast, Beat Procrastination and Find Your Creative Flow"

[@djfishnz1443]

I just ordered a copy heh, I am only a learner of music but, having ADD (the slow sort) having any self-help which is also related to a subject im interested in might just give me the help I need to finish a project! haha. Great video yet again. how cool is that piece of kit also.

[@babytigerbeats]

It is an excellent and inspiring book.

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

I just ordered a copy too! Thanks for pointing this out.

[@DEADLINETV]

Been playing drums for over 30 years now... Never heard that term before. Thanks! Interesting video, once again!

[@benbowman7730]

Thank you Cameron. Great video...as always :)

[@stevep6428]

Awesome video as always great job man

[@otterdragon]

You have an incredible speaking voice. Don’t forget to do some voice over work if you haven’t already.

[@dkba52]

Outstanding content. You are inspiring. Thank you.

[@neurokinetik64ES]

This really gets the creative juices flowing.

[@Dagrond]

Always entertaining. Thank you.

[@bahutu802]

There is a Euclidian _Fill_ function on Polyend Tracker. Never really understood why I would need it. Thanks a lot for the insights. Will definitely check this out now :)

[@DD-te6oj]

Great video man!!

[@adelicateharmony9224]

Thank you! 😊

[@dawud7791]

That T-1 is awesome! Haha, sounds like the music from discovery channels “how it’s made”

[@michaels5166]

This reminds me when I am spinning and just merging time signatures ,overlapping, and bringing rhythms in on themselves. This is probably easy to do on The Polyend tracker, Force, and the Soma drum synth..I have not experimented with my Yamaha QY700 yet, yet i have heard Squarepusher make it happen often...

[@saeye]

I've always wanted to know what you use to make the drum tracks in the background. Esp the rides that sound so good. Addictive Drums? The background music early on really feels like I'm watching anime haha with the piano improv.

[@malcolmfrancis4543]

Book Face!!!!!! HAHAHAHAH! I love how your delivering theory. Fantastic! Thank you!

[@igg5589]

I understand NOTHING, but it is so awesome. And this drives me crazy. It makes me feel mentally disabled :(

[@paultorbert6929]

Wt-actual-f !!!!? I’ve been pondering this hard for 2 days, then Cameron pops up with THIS . Serendipity…. Third eye….. ?

[@AGDugros]

Very interesting video! Thank you

[@MrMarcLaflamme]

Thank you for reminding me I still need to watch Tenet and that Solar Fields still exists!

[@jklappenbach]

I'm going to put this on an older video, because it's always good to have a reminder that the long tail of content is one of the true miracles of social media. You slave away at creating content, and unless lightening strikes, there's usually little to no response to what you're throwing out. This is especially true if you're even moderately intelligent and produce content that is really only consumable by people of sufficient intelligence to even know what to do with said content. In which case: you're basically fucked for the short term. But the long term? It's in this time span that things start to make sense, and that the advantage of a medium like KZbin really starts to shift the balance. But in the short term, it's often hard to keep the faith. From some of your previous videos, it's clear that there's been an occasional fight against fatigue, frustration, failed expectations, etc. Here's one voice saying: thank you. Thank you for what you do and what you've done. I've learned much from you, and have really enjoyed the ride so far.

[@squelched133]

Well said!!

[@dokma_eu]

PLEASE do show us some books that are for electronic music producing (or did you really think that it will go unnoticed?)! And thank you for another excellent video! Also, doesn't Falcon have some kind of Eucledian rhythm something? (I just didn't learn enough on how to use it, tbh)

[@fiscaldisco5234]

It was a little hard for me to follow what you were doing on the T1 because I’m not familiar with how it’s sequencer works and it’s hard to see the colors of the pads in the video. Seems cool though and I’m interested in applying this to my sequences.

[@cmsmithmusic]

Was going to say the same. Any euclidian software would’ve visualised this concept better. It did inspire me to go and see what I’ve got in my virtual toy box though! 😂

[@fiscaldisco5234]

Yeah after watching a couple different videos I realized that terms like “pulses” and “rotating” are common euclidian terms but it’s a little odd to assume viewers are familiar with these terms in a video that is introducing the concept

[@robjoyner1167]

yea. I don't get what these pulses are and can't see pretty much anything on those pads

[@JaderRubini]

Totally lost here, too

[@derrickwayne4627]

@@fiscaldisco5234 i mean he does give context clues and shows the result of the terms so i think its easy to understand for most people because i havent heard the term pulses before but once he played the rhythm i understood, rotation is self explanatory, he did good 👍

[@chriscasatelli6876]

That is rad!

[@8083music]

10:26 RONIC RODUCERS

[@trepke2849]

I am massively struggling with my T1 workflow...to the point I'm considering selling it and getting hapax. Simply not enough tutorial videos, every sequence I get, that I actually like - I can't repeat it anymore. Drives me crazy!

[@RealityStudiosInc]

damn awesome as always

[@MattJacques]

Is there a source for the rotating geometric pattern graphics that you used to demonstrate these rhythms early in the vid? I found that to be the most interesting to watch to help understand what's going on!

[@onairmastering]

This is MY JAM, I am using most of these variations in Logic with the step sequencer, any chance of a video doing this same thing but in Logic? I do love the touch apparatus.

[@BrentODell]

Cool video. I discovered you because you were hanging out with Benn Jordan and.... someone? Adam Neely, maybe? at NAMM in one of their videos. Anyway, interesting stuff, and the poly-rhythm stuff is one of the things I find fascinating about the Moog Subharmonicon. That said, I can't quite justify the money for one right now, so I'll have to fake it :)

[@smalltown2223]

My sequencer is an abacus made with Juniper wood. I feel like smashing it into a billion pieces.

[@troy_landon]

Great video! Also, what is the book you have there?

[@glovebunniesvideos4278]

You had me at "math."

[@suprvibe8162]

yo that book under ur hand is up on my shelf. I bought it and did no homework.. lucked out cuz its a GEM

[@huraqan3761]

Finally, now I know how to make something that has bounce with a little bit of a twang to it ^^

[@AdamElteto]

Paging Men Without Hats and Safety Dance... And they did that BEFORE the whole Euclidean hardware/software revolution...

[@edmc2]

😎👍🏻 awesomeness again

[@korreyshortime3141]

brilliant

[@OMEGAGENESIS-gw2fx]

I considered getting one of these, but I got the Hapax instead. I would still like to get this and the Oxi One. I'm on the list to get the Cirklon someday. I got on the list about 6 months ago, so I only have about 2 1/2 years to go.

[@aemythjensen]

For some reason when I listen to this 7:20 , it makes me think of Safety Dance by Men Without Hats

[@CrunchyMusic]

Me too. It's that synth pad, I think. S ess ess ess A ay ay ay F eff eff eff...😀

[@ZekeMagnar]

Thanks for this tutorial. Would you mind sharing which synth you used in this demo?

[@martinheath5947]

Ha I used to use my Atari ST running Cubase (b/w screen fully upgraded to 4Mb of RAM) to do this kind of random generator stuff in the "Interactive Phrase Synthesiser" section. Happy days

[@jjostroff]

This is way to cool for me try

[@girlinagale]

Synthstrom Deluge now has Euclidean sequencing, goodness knows how I may use it!

[@VenusTheory]

Use it to get f u n k y 🕺

[@girlinagale]

@@VenusTheory Chuggy dub.

[@ptkelly80]

Ugh, between that and the oled retrofits, I’m really hating myself for selling mine a few years ago. Not to mention that it now costs hundreds more than what I paid for mine.

[@albertorobinson7611]

Cheers 😘

[@tutubeos]

Very interesting!

[@JonMurray]

I was unsubscribed from your channel?! I’ve re subscribed!

[@How-I-Roll]

Thanks for the video. Do you know if it would be possible to create something like this in VCV rack? Any recommendations?

[@strikingearth2947]

No Venus Theory video would be complete without the giant truck driving through his living room

[@dubmaverick69]

Can the notes that T-1 is sending out to the DAW be captured in Midi, so this way we can use those notes to apply to other devices, maybe edit them, been looking at this for some time, maybe a video how to set this up and get the most out of it would be very helpful

[@LightningSpritesJetsWizard]

6:07 it seems like Diesel Power by The Prodigy is much based on this Euclidian rhythm.

[@OgamiItto70]

Huh. I kinda shined this video on for a while. "Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it." Turned out *_not_* to be what I was expecting. Righteous.

[@derleunuk1406]

That's very cool. Are Euclidian Rythms used in Synthwave a lot? This can make awesome Arpeggios or Baselines too. I'll definetly try it out.

[@tablaninja]

TINA!!!!!

[@nickwilliams8156]

At 2'45" the denominators in the fractions equal the number of dots around the shape except for the 3 over 7 one, it still has 8 around it. Is this a mistake or some spicy kink in Euclidean rhythms that I have failed to appreciate? (Good vid btw!)

[@johnvance5118]

You should try Music Pattern Generator. It’s a free euc rhythm generator that can also send out midi. I’ve been using it for years now.

[@RayTech70]

Do you have a URL or better description of where it can be found on the Internet?

[@croay]

HI, cool video! Is there a way to sequence euclidean rhythms in Bitwig using stock plugins, etc?

[@tristan_mcdonald]

you can have one long note playing and then use the note repeat effect on euclid mode

[@carlost2067]

love your content bro 🙏🏼stay real

[@synthexplained8575]

what do you think about the Hapax. can you make a comparison? nice video :-)

[@arcticfoxstudios2018]

Let's talk math! Engineers & scientists: Yeah! Everyone else: Noooooo!

[@afrosheent3arcmichael69]

I love this. You'll come up with something so original. Then Marshmallo will put out another 4 chord song and get a billion plays.

[@iloveACID]

This has been done many times in music history. Its Its nothing original

[@brianmi40]

Xronomorph is also a free alternative.

[@althewicked]

Nice one! Thanks. Do you know a VST alternative that comes close to the T1?

[@VenusTheory]

As mentioned in the video I've got a free plugin in the description you can use to try this stuff out!

[@althewicked]

@@VenusTheory Oh I missed that :) Thanks a lot!

[@jasoneveritt7331]

RPE2 by HY Plugins is a fantastic 8 Euclidean Sequencer with lots of modulation sources - a great VST alternative to the T1

[@althewicked]

@@jasoneveritt7331 Thanks Jason! Nice tipp

[@LuisFernandez-ld8ow]

La macarena goes good with the beat at 7 minutes

[@maedaeburning]

*hears the word homework, shuts off video and jumps out nearest window*

[@clown134]

I'd love to see some free open source VST sequence generators. I know of a couple but they're some of my favorite software. the ones where you give them a midi output and it sends midi input into a another channel. one of my favorite is called bluearp with generators in general chordz is another one but not sequencer

[@clown134]

just saw the link to hornet in the pinned comment will check it out

[@_DRMR_]

@@clown134 Unfortunately not foss, nor cross-platform. The Music Pattern Generator that VT uses for the animations is standalone, but foss though!

[@VenusTheory]

VCV Cardinal is FOSS and has quite a few sequencers you can play around with!

[@_DRMR_]

@@VenusTheory It's not associated to VCV, this is a separate company.

[@clown134]

thank you, foss isn't a necessity but definitely a plus

[@DarkHorseAudio386]

Freedom wagons have to be jacked up. Preferably higher in the back and lower in the front so as to give the illusion of a no nonsense tough guy stance. I think.

[@isaacanthonydj4124]

i was thinking of trying on my MC707 to generate complex euclidean by using the first 4 tracks for prime number steps so 1,3,5,7 and then clip chain them in random mode, 4x4 grid of different sounds all doing 1 3 5 or 7 steps, with the master sequencer at 16 and see what sort of Autechre comes out, but i'm being lazy right now because it's 104 degrees here and i can barely type this.

[@isaacanthonydj4124]

i think the trick will be how to throw random ish reverb on certain steps and how to get so that certain sounds, like pads will continue to echo out after then next clip is triggered.

[@imagesofstyle]

I'd swear the Erica Synths LXR-02 can do all this. BRB, exploring...

[@VenusTheory]

Looks like it does! Happy exploring!

[@sebastienbarre]

Good idea, these are nice tricks. The colors of the pads in the video don't translate well on KZbin though, possibly because of the color space after compression? This made it pretty difficult for colorblind me (a lot of males are).

[@karllindberg]

The kick comes when mixing two different beats as to make the listener not know to which beat to listen to, and then suggest which rhythm takes precedence with the instruments used...

[@billfox8257]

At first I didn't see the application. But then you launched into PROBABILITIES and the light bulb went off!

[@dwp2659]

groovy

[@cclark8088]

cool vid!

[@NullStaticVoid]

I doscovered this back in teh 80's using a Casio SK1 sampler It sounded pretty lame, but I got really into looping mouth noises. Quickly found that intervals make rhythmnic patterns. the 3rd 4th and 5th all correspond to the same polyrhythmns he covers here. I've since internalized these beat patterns such that I can play them with two hands on drums, or one hand on keyboard. Or tapping on a guitar neck against my left hand fretting. It's kind of odd hearing someone talk about my old friends like this!

[@fullcircleaudio]

Cool

[@hlqa7938]

Bro, u r cool!

[@andrea-t-pagano]

ah that is how I used to play drums, yeah practically infinite sweating :)

[@INTOTHETERROR]

How is this different from Elektron sequencer via the digitakt?

[@Ryannaut_g]

I wish I knew what all the electronic music equipment does. I’d be like Tiesto but with my own style!

[@samkenny3075]

Awesome-- gonna grab that hornet now and see what happens -- thanks!

[@ParduzTube]

I always like your videos, but i think that in this case you picked the "worst" tool to show euclidean/poly rythms. There are free VSTs which allows to program rythm with the "rotating visualization" you showed us sometime in this video. Just a thought, i enjoyed your video :)

[@VenusTheory]

As mentioned in the video I actually linked a free plugin to follow along with as well

[@ParduzTube]

@@VenusTheory Yup. I just meant that stuffs like Xronomorph (for example) makes easier to understand what you're explaining :)

[@fmclueless788]

Well I realized I was doing this without actually knowing what it was called. I wasnt like actually randomizing, it was just something I liked lol.

[@Ouvii]

Wow, I actually learned something in a music theory KZbin video that wasn't about microtones. I'm stunned! Great presentation! I love polyrhythms, but this is a great option I'd never considered.

[@DrSoucMusic]

❤️

[@matthewdeward1984]

Pamelas new workout can not only do euclydian ruthms but also can do euclydian lfos Yeah its NUTS

[@HornieCow]

addictive and expensive AF

[@krisrhodes5180]

Is the euclidean visualization at 6:25 available online somewhere?

[@VenusTheory]

You bet! 4four.io/ploop

[@wishcloudstudios]

E.L.O. Vibes... 😄 Hey, why'd you change the thumbnail?

[@Quark.Lepton]

Yo Venus! More Cowbell!

[@VenusTheory]

🔔